Private players likely to make inroads into agri-infra in Telangana
Telangana govt exploring the scope for tapping private investments to strengthen marketing facilities
Hyderabad: In line with the Centre’s plans to establish private market yards and bring reforms to the agricultural sector, the Telangana government is considering promoting agricultural market infrastructure through private investments. The State government is brainstorming solutions to overcome funding shortages and improve market yards.
The Centre’s move in fact aims to allow processing companies, exporters, traders, and small traders to directly purchase agricultural produce from farmers, ensuring better prices for their crops. Additionally, the government plans to introduce private e-trading platforms with green signals to facilitate this process. The proposal, known as the ‘National Agricultural Market Reforms,’ has been presented to all States for implementation. Well before the bifurcation of the State, Andhra Pradesh had a policy allowing private agricultural market yards since 2006, but no private player came forward to establish a market yard.
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Telangana Marketing Department authorities are exploring the scope for tapping private investments to strengthen marketing facilities and studying the proposal. The State government will make a decision very soon, according to sources.
If implemented, the National Agricultural Market Reforms are expected to bring changes to the agricultural market, providing farmers with better opportunities and hopefully ensuring transparency in transactions. The reforms aim to integrate market systems across the country, allowing farmers to get the best prices for their produce and ensuring a smooth supply chain from farmers to consumers.
The Telangana government has announced a Rs 2000 crore mega market yard at Koheda near Hyderabad. This project is likely to be the first major initiative to receive approval with private-public partnerships, provided it gets the final nod. The Koheda Fruit Market was planned by the previous BRS government. It was proposed to be the country’s largest and modern fruit market, spread over 199 acres.
The market will feature world-class godowns, a logistics park, a processing plant, a waste management and recycling facility, solar systems, cold storage, ripening chambers, staff quarters, shops for commission agents, sheds, roads, and parking infrastructure. Additionally, a special vapour heat treatment irradiation plant will be constructed to export mangoes.
Given its proximity to the Outer Ring Road and the proposed Regional Ring Road and the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, the new market proposal cleared by the previous regime is expected to give a boost to the horticulture crops in the State.
